


Out of Breath or Out of Key

by Chash



Series: Exiles Among You [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 22:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6489073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summertime, and the living is easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Breath or Out of Key

**Author's Note:**

> Who's got two thumbs and is aggressively not looking forward to tonight's episode? Probably a lot of people, but I'm one of them.

"So, how bad would it be if I asked your brother to move in with me?"

Octavia doesn't look away from the TV; she's not failing this level of Mario just because Clarke wants to have a conversation about her relationship.

"From a custody perspective, probably pretty bad. I think he's supposed to live with me."

Clarke flops down on the couch with a bowl of cereal. She's wearing one of Bellamy's shirts and a pair of her own pajama shorts, and Octavia doesn't remember the last time she slept at her own place. It's nice. The first month of summer vacation has been great.

"I figured you'd be coming, but he'd be the one I asked. Since he's your legal guardian."

"But you're asking me first."

"But I'm asking you first."

"Why would it be bad, exactly?"

Clarke sighs. "I don't know. It's soon? Like--we've been dating for less than a year."

"Yeah, but you guys were in a serious relationship before you ever started dating. And what's the downside? If you break up, we'll find a new place."

There's a pause, and Octavia can't tell if Clarke was actually waiting for her to finish the level or the timing was coincidental, but when Clarke says, "Well, there's your friends," she figures it's probably a sign she should stop playing games and commit to the conversation.

"What about them?"

"Obviously they're an awesome bunch of weirdos and I love them. But they're already kind of over-invested in my love life. And if you and Bellamy move in with me, that's--pretty unambiguous. I know they're all convinced we have some secret romance going on, but, honestly, they're not really _convinced_ , right?"

"No," Octavia grants. "But--honestly, they might be less weird if they just knew."

Clarke leans back, staring up at the ceiling, giving this due consideration. "You think?"

"Well, right now, it's a mystery, you know? Like--they're still trying to find the ultimate proof that the two of your are together. Which they seriously could, if they ever went into Bell's room, but--"

"But they're thankfully not at the point of taking advantage of your friendship to sneak into your brother's room to look for signs that we're dating."

"Yeah, but, again, if they just knew, they'd stop being amateur detectives. Monty has a _list of evidence_."

"So weird." She closes her eyes. "If they know, everyone knows."

"And?"

"And I'm not really--I've always been kind of private about this stuff, I guess? Not that it was hard, but--I never even used to tell my parents about my relationships if I didn't have to. It's weird knowing that people care about it. And it doesn't end when you and your friends graduate, because they'll tell people, and--this is putting a lot of pressure on you, right? I'm an asshole. I'm not saying you shouldn't have friends."

Octavia laughs. "No, I get it. I wouldn't want to be you guys either. It would be so weird if people cared about my love life."

"I care about your love life." She nudges her knee against Octavia's. "How's Lincoln?"

"Shut up."

"You guys are hanging out, right?"

"Kind of. I know where he works and I go there for lunch when I'm at work. That sounds creepy, right? He told me he was working there, it wasn't like I stalked him."

"I never said that. I think you're good. He likes you. You guys are friends."

"And he knows you and Bell are dating and he's really normal about it."

She realizes only when Clarke frowns that Lincoln was _so_ normal about it, Clarke didn't even realize he knew. "He knows? How does he know?"

"I told him, obviously." She pauses. "You know, just because Jasper and Monty know doesn't mean they're going to tell everyone." The dubious look Clarke gives her is completely deserved, but she soldiers on, "Really! Come on, we could totally sell them on it. Like--they get to be in on it, right? No one else knows you and Bell are really dating. They get to keep an awesome secret."

"Or they get to tell everyone me and Bellamy are really dating."

"I'll scoop them if that happens," Octavia assures her, and Clarke laughs.

"Thanks. I feel better." She glances at Octavia, going serious. "So, you want to move in with me?"

"Yeah."

"You think your brother wants to move in with me?"

"Definitely."

"You think your brother's asshole cat will bite the shit out of me for months until she settles in?"

"Also definitely."

"Cool. Your lease is up September first, so I'm going to tell him he shouldn't renew it. My place is way nicer."

*

It's been a long time since Octavia's really enjoyed her summer vacation. Not that it was _bad_ in Baltimore, she found free clubs to join and places to hang out, spent afternoons at the library and took home lots of books, went to parties when she got old enough and antsy enough with being at home. But summer in New York is different. Monty and Jasper are off at camp until the end of July, but Clarke is around most of the time, and so is Bellamy, and Raven and Wells when they're not working, and they do _family stuff_ , hikes and museums and weekends in the city. Clarke really likes swimming in natural bodies of water, so she drags them down to jump in the lake near her house every few days, which Bellamy pretends to hate, but his girlfriend is wearing a bikini and dunking his head under water, so he can't actually maintain any kind of irritation or dignity for more than five minutes. She keeps busy without feeling desperate about it.

Still, after a few weeks of absolutely nothing structured to do, she started feeling itchy, so Raven hired her on to work a few days a week at the garage, which is great. Bellamy and Clarke got her a bike for her birthday, so can get there on her own, and she helps Raven with whatever she can help with, lets Wells teach her about finance and accounting, which is actually really useful, and gets lunch at the deli where Lincoln works.

It's so aggressively and undeniably wholesome that it honestly freaks her out sometimes. It's the kind of perfect summer she'd read about in books and dismiss as being unrealistic. It feels too good to be true, and then she'll remember, out of nowhere, that Bellamy is working _really hard_ to make sure she's it's this good, and her life becomes overwhelming in the other way, the way where her brother is back in her life and loves her and always loved her. And she'll feel a little guilty, because she doesn't know how to give this back to him.

Sometimes it feels like she'll always be playing catch up.

So it helps when she goes into the garage the Monday after she and Clarke talk, and Raven greets her with, "Thank god you're here."

"You cannot possibly have a car problem you need me to solve," she replies.

"Nope. I meant in the general sense. Like, thank god your asshole of a mom died and you came to live with your brother."

It's still a little jarring to hear people be casually happy about her mother's death. Less because she disagrees and more because it's kind of impolite, the kind of thing you aren't supposed to say, even if you're thinking it. But from Raven, it always makes her smile. "Any reason in particular you're thankful for that today?"

"Clarke says she's going to ask you guys to move in."

"Yeah."

"I'm pretty sure if you hadn't moved in she'd still be getting drunk on my couch and talking about how she wants to make out with him but doesn't want to make things awkward, so, thanks."

"Really? I sort of figured I slowed them down."

Raven's eye roll is fond, as always. "Nope. No way." She jerks her head. "Come on, we've got shit to do."

"You should tell me about them."

"What about them?"

"I don't know how Bell was before I got here."

"Oh, yeah. I guess so." She goes over to a pretty nice Chevy and slides under it. Octavia's not convinced Raven needs her help with anything, but she appreciates the gesture. And she is learning useful stuff. She's grateful. "So, I was the first one here," Raven says, once she's settled under the car. "It was like Bellamy, but not shitty. When I was seventeen, my dad tracked me down, and he was--I loved my dad. This was his place. He died when I was twenty-one, and left me the garage. It went okay for a while, but I'm good at the cars and shitty at the business, so I put up an ad on Craigslist looking for someone to do financial shit. It was such a bad job description. I didn't even know what I needed."

Octavia has to smile; she can imagine it. "And you got Wells?"

Raven snorts. "Jesus, I couldn't believe it. I got a bunch of emails that were just, like, three sentences, about as vague as my actual posting, and then there's Wells, with a real formatted resume and personalized cover letter. He went to fucking _Brown_. I thought it was a joke."

"But you hired him."

"I called and he said his best friend had a job teaching high school here, which was why he wanted to come. And I liked him, yeah. He didn't care I couldn't pay him much, and I figured he wouldn't screw me over."

"And he hasn't."

"Not in the bad way," she says, and Octavia laughs.

"And then Clarke met Bell at school?"

"No, actually. He and Wells moved in together first. I don't know why he didn't just live with Clarke, but I think she kind of wanted a place of her own. So he and Bellamy found each other on Craigslist, and Clarke helped them move in. He was--Bellamy, you know? Kind of a prickly asshole, but we all like that. So by the time school started, we were all already friends. But Clarke was trying to do long distance with her college girlfriend. If she hadn't, I think he probably would have made a move pretty early? I don't know, maybe I'm giving him too much credit. But it kind of makes sense to me, it's easier to do that stuff before you get close. And Clarke's breakup was pretty bad, so--honestly, yeah. They got into a holding pattern, where they were, well. The way they were when you got here."

"Really obvious."

"Jesus, so fucking obvious. But they didn't know how to just--get there. And then you showed up."

"And I'm magic?"

"Bellamy was a fucking mess, so Clarke was basically co-parenting with him. Or--co-sibling-ing. Whatever." She pauses. "Come under here, you're not doing any work. What am I paying you for?"

Once Octavia's under the car, Raven gives a quick rundown of what's wrong and what needs to be done, and lets Octavia take over. She waits until she's sure she knows what she's doing until she prompts, "Bell was a mess?"

"He was thrilled, like--so fucking stupid happy. But, yeah, he was a mess too. Just--he was worried he was never going to make it up to you. And I know Clarke talked to him about that a lot."

"Good," she says. And then, once she's ready, she asks, "Your dad--did he know about you?"

"Yeah."

"What took him so long to get to you?"

"He couldn't find me."

"Were you mad at him?"

"Sometimes, yeah. Not as much as I was happy."

"I feel like--I don't know how to be good for Bell."

"Well, that's the cool part," says Raven. "You don't have to do anything. He's just happy to have you."

"It's a lot more work for him. And for Clarke. She was worried about--all my friends are going to find out they're together."

"I guess that would be weird. But--they don't really care. Seriously, their lives are so much better than they were before you showed up." She pauses. "Not that mine isn't, but--it's different."

"I wasn't offended. I just--Bell's trying so hard for me. I don't know how to try hard for him."

"It's different when you're a kid. I know he's your brother, but--he's not your brother too. He's supposed to take care of you. Just keep letting him, do what you can to give back. You're allowed to be pissed sometimes. Everyone's pissed sometimes. But you know it's not his fault, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then you'll be fine. And, seriously, I don't know when he would have made a move on Clarke without you, and now she's going to ask him to move in, and he gets to live with his two favorite people in the entire world. Sounds like a pretty great deal to me."

Octavia has to smile. "Yeah. When you put it like that."

She goes over to the deli a little after one, and Lincoln grabs her sandwich and something for himself too, joins her at one of the free tables. He takes his lunch break whenever she shows up.

She doesn't know how to make a move either, but she's pretty sure it's a different kind of not knowing than whatever was happening with Bellamy and Clarke. It feels like it's not time yet, not like it never will be. It's weird, how sure she feels about it.

"I think we're moving in with Clarke," she says.

"Yeah?"

"She wants us to. She's going to ask Bell about it." She considers. "You never told her you knew about them?"

"Why would I have told her? It never came up." He offers her a smile. "It's her personal life, it's none of my business. I assume they're happy?"

"Honestly? They're nauseating."

"I'm imagining the two of them rubbing their noses together and arguing about who loves the other more. It's actually kind of terrifying."

Of course, she gets the same mental image, and it _is_ terrifying. "No, they tend to show affection with teasing. But they snuggle a lot and I always text before I come home to make sure they aren't having sex on the couch."

Lincoln chokes on his Snapple. "Is that because you caught them, or did it just seem like a good precaution to take?"

"Never actually having sex, but--making out and some level of undressed, yeah."

He pauses. "I'm not going to comment on that."

Octavia grins and nudges her foot against him; she sort of assumes all her friends think at least one of her caretakers is hot, but Lincoln is bi, so she's always thought he finds both of them hot. "It was very scarring for me."

"Obviously. I should visit you more often."

"You should, though. We're a very cool place to hang out. Clarke's around most of the time. We have a cat."

"I also have a cat." He looks down at his sandwich. "I wouldn't mind spending more time with you, though. Lunch break isn't long."

"No," Octavia agrees. "What are you doing tonight?"

When she gets home, she finds Clarke and Bellamy on the couch. They don't have AC, so they have the fan on full blast and Bellamy's shirtless, while Clarke is wearing shorts and a bikini top. They're not doing anything else questionable, though, so she lets it slide.

"We're having company, so you guys should try to put on clothes."

"Company?" Clarke asks.

"Company should appreciate my abs," Bellamy adds. Clarke pokes his stomach, and he kisses her hair. "See? My company appreciates my abs."

"It's Lincoln. I'd appreciate if you guys weren't hotter than me. I don't want you pulling focus."

The two of them exchange a look; Octavia's pretty sure Clarke is trying to tell Bellamy not to be an idiot with just the power of her eyes. "Lincoln?" he asks, voice careful.

"Lincoln."

"Is he seventeen yet?"

"I think so."

"He knows we're dating," Clarke says. "So I don't have to leave."

"Why does he know we're dating?" he asks, like he expects Clarke told him.

"Because I give my crushes all the hottest gossip first," Octavia says. "You cannot possibly tell me I'm not allowed to have Lincoln over. He's a friend. We're friends. It's not a date." She crosses her arms. "And, honestly, am I not allowed to have dates? Would it be a problem if it was?"

Bellamy rubs his face, and Clarke nudges her nose against his neck, affectionate. "She's got a point. You've never said she _can't_ have cute boys over. I think that's allowed."

"Since when do you get a vote?" he grumbles, without any heat.

"If you're moving in, I get a vote. And I've always had a vote, you know that."

Bellamy's grin is so wide and bright that Octavia's eyes prick. Her brother doesn't smile like that enough. Maybe he does it more at Clarke, when they're alone. It's not like Octavia doesn't make him happy; she knows she does. But it's a different kind of happy than Clarke makes him. She's just glad he gets both.

"She said she already asked you about moving in and you said you were cool with it," Bellamy tells Octavia. "So I assume it's cool that I said yes?"

"I was pretty sure you were going to, yeah."

"I'm gonna talk to the landlord about getting out of our lease early, maybe. I'd rather have more time to move before school."

"You just want to live with Clarke as soon as possible."

"That too." He frowns, looks down at himself. "Good job distracting me from your date. Should we actually leave or just put on clothes?"

"Just clothes is fine. I told him you'd be around. You might be a perk."

"We are pretty awesome," Clarke agrees. "When's he coming?"

"After he finishes work. Like 5:30."

"Cool," she says, flopping back against Bellamy. "We can get dressed at like 5:25 so you guys have some privacy."

"You're not helping," Bellamy tells her.

"I'm not helping _you_. That's different from not helping. Lincoln's my favorite. He's good. We're going to be nice to him."

"I'll be a dick to him. But just like I'm a dick to all your friends. Nothing special."

Octavia snorts and rolls her eyes. "Deal. I'm going to take a shower before he shows up."

Honestly, it is a little awkward, once Lincoln gets there, but it's not really Bellamy's fault. It's just the usual awkwardness of spending time with someone in a new way, of changing the way a relationship is. It feels like possibility.

Apparently it does to Bellamy too. Once Lincoln has left, he flops down next to Octavia and says, "Okay, your friends knowing about us wouldn't be the worst. If they're all this normal."

"They aren't," says Octavia. "Lincoln's definitely my most normal friend."

"Which is why he's my favorite," Clarke adds. She leans down to kiss Bellamy. "I'm taking off too, I have shit to do tomorrow. I'll see you guys for dinner, probably?"

Bellamy glances at Octavia, and she goes to the kitchen so he can make out with Clarke before she leaves like he obviously wants to. Or maybe talk to her in private. She's not sure what Bellamy does when he's alone with Clarke, aside from the very obvious, but--even without Raven telling her, she would have known they have plenty of conversations about her too.

He's alone on the couch when she gets back with her snack, and when he jerks his head, she goes to sit with him.

"You're really cool with moving in with Clarke?"

"Of course I am." And then, because he'll worry and keep worrying, she says, "I want to live with Clarke. I love Clarke too, you know. It would be nice."

"I just--it's been less than a year since you moved in here. I don't want you to feel like we're always going to be moving around or something."

"Bell, seriously. Clarke's place is bigger, and she owns it. If we're going to live with her, we should move in with her. And I don't see why we wouldn't live with her. It's not like we're getting evicted because you can't pay the rent. It's not--it's the good kind of moving."

He's quiet, but in the way that means he's not really _done_. Finally, he says, "You like it here?"

"It's fine, but I like Clarke's place better. I really like her attic room, I think she's going to let me take it."

That gets a grin. "Yeah, she said you hadn't been very subtle about wanting that room." He kicks his feet up on the coffee table. "I meant _here_. You don't miss the city? I feel like--I told you when you moved in we didn't have to stay here, but then I started dating Clarke, so maybe you felt like you couldn't tell me you wanted to leave."

"I don't want to leave," she says. "Bell--I'm happy, okay? You're doing everything right. You can stop worrying."

"Yeah, easier said than done," he says, with some self-deprecation. "We can stay here another year."

"Nope, we're moving in with Clarke. I already told Lincoln and picked out my room."

He laughs. "Yeah, okay, fine. I'm thinking we move in August first, and I either get out of the lease or we just leave. I don't care about paying an extra month in rent if I get to live with Clarke."

"You guys are cute."

"Thanks." It sounds like it might actually hurt to say, "Lincoln's a good guy. I hope it's--he's welcome any time. Let, uh--if you need condoms or something, just tell Clarke. I would be weird about it."

"Yeah, I knew that."

He stands, stretches, and kisses her on the head. "I love you, O. Goodnight."

It feels like maybe she did it right, whatever this was. "Love you too, Bell."

*

"I don't want you guys to freak out or anything," Octavia says, leading Jasper, Monty, Harper, and Monroe toward the door.

"Freak out about what?" asks Monty.

"Moving boxes."

"Shit, are you guys leaving?" asks Jasper. "You can't be leaving! We would have heard if your brother got a new job, right? Resigning, or--"

Monroe elbows him. "Remember not freaking out?"

"And that wasn't even why I thought you were going to freak out," Octavia says, with a roll of her eyes.

"Seriously, why?" asks Monty.

"We're moving in with Clarke. August first." Monty stops walking and Jasper walks into him; Octavia grins at them. "What? You knew they were dating."

"Seriously?"

"Since when?"

"Are they _married_?"

"Dating. Since last November. They're totally in love and gross about it."

She opens the door, and there are various half-filled boxes in the living room, as she warned them there would be. Atalanta jumps out of one of the boxes and flees the scene, presumably because teenagers are terrifying. Octavia can't really blame her.

"Where does Ms. Griffin even live?"

"The other side of town, near a pond, which is awesome. You guys should come swimming with us sometime."

"Us?" asks Monty. "Like, you and your brother?"

Octavia rolls her eyes. "Don't you have a boyfriend you can ogle? Your thirst for my brother is getting weird."

"I can ogle lots of people," says Monty, grinning. "Nate could come too. And your friend Lincoln. Peak ogling."

"I only want to ogle one of those people."

"I don't want to ogle any of them," Jasper grumbles.

"It's Ms. Griffin's house," Monroe points out. "So Ms. Griffin is probably coming to."

"We're not going swimming with any of you, sorry," Clarke remarks, wandering through the living room toward the kitchen. "Except Octavia. Hey, guys. Having a good summer?"

"I was expecting to feel more vindicated when you and Mr. Blake got together," Monty tells her.

"Sorry my romantic life isn't more personally rewarding for you," Clarke says. "If you stick around for a movie, I'll definitely snuggle with him. And if you help us on moving day, I'll probably kiss him at least once."

"Thanks for the offer," Monty says, still sounding a little put out, and Octavia grins at Clarke.

"See? I told you. The whole appeal was the mystery. Now that you're just admitting it, it's not a big deal."

Clarke kisses her on the head; it's a new thing she's doing, affection for Octavia. It makes something squirm in her stomach, in a nice way.

The word _brother_ is still complicated; _sister_ isn't as intimidating. There's less baggage.

"It really is kind of a letdown," Jasper says, sighing. "I thought we'd catch them hooking up in Mr. Blake's room or something. But it's actually just--not a big deal, huh?" he asks, glancing at Octavia.

Atalanta has come back in, tentative, to sniff at the boxes again. She definitely knows things are going to happen that she won't enjoy, but she's pragmatic enough to take advantage of a bunch of boxes while she can.

Octavia is so excited she feels like there's a current running through her. She's got the layout for her new room planned out, desk and bookshelves and her bathmat. All these things that she loves, that are hers.

Like she loves Bellamy and Clarke, and they're hers.

"Yeah, not a big deal at all," she lies. "Just one of those things."


End file.
